Searching

With a blog title like 'Searching,' you're probably expecting something really deep like searching for: the purpose in life, a husband to marry, a career, etc. But on the contrary (and I've never claimed to be typical), I'm pretty content with my purpose right now, a husband would serve me mostly to help taste test all the recipes I want to try (and I have roommates that can do that), and I've got a job for at least the next bit. No, no, the search I speak of tonight was much less serious--so stop holding your breath--I was looking for applesauce. And if my ability to find applesauce says anything about me as a person, well I'm a complete and total failure. Applesauce was not to be found at the 5 grocery stores I checked. Sugar molasses (that's what my grandmother says when she gets frustrated, and I feel it's only appropriate when referencing failure at finding something sweet). What I did find though was feta cheese marked down (that was EXCITING!). My next recipe will be incomplete until I can get to the grocery in Taipa, but all will be well in time. Tomorrow I'm making ham roll ups for the pot luck. Yum.

Today I helped edit a paper on "The Flowers of Evil" by Baudelaire. Talk about a dark poem. I was also helping a student find an 'interesting' article about the Greyhound Bus for her American History class. It's interesting that they have American History as a class here, but even more interesting is the fact that she has to find and copy and paste (no sourcing) an article each week about something in American history. I'm not sure the academic level of this exercise, and the judgment of 'interesting' seems to be somewhat misunderstood by the students. So today, I suggested she use the phrase 'and culture' with her search to bring up some articles she could sort through. Alas, the Freedom Riders Movement. If that's not interesting, her teacher is...well, yeah. It's interesting to think about all the ties to the Greyhound Bus name though. There are country songs about them, pregnant teens used to be shipped off to distant relatives on them, a beheading happened on one, and so on.

This evening, Ray jumped in with the debate team on "This House believes that society benefits when personal information is shared online." I adjudicated. To kill the suspense, yes, Ray's side won (against my desires. haha), but he has far more experience on them. It's an interesting debate to frame and hear.

It just turned 12:03, that means it's Valentines Day here in Macau. Happy Lovers Day to all! Go love on someone today (platonic love counts too!). Too many people are made to feel lonely or unimportant on this day just because it's a day with expectations. Heck, if it didn't cost 60 bucks, I'd send someone random some flowers.

I took this picture the other day. This is LIGHT traffic during the day on the way from St. Paul's Ruins to Senado. Sure there are ways around this street, but this seems like the most direct path to work, and thus it's the human weave. Sometimes I like seeing how quickly I can get through it as a sort of competition. Sometimes people stand in the middle of the street and stare at stuff, and you want to wave and say, 'Hi, welcome to the walkway.' Although cars can come through here, it's limited to buses that pick up/drop off children in the non-peak hours of the day and construction vehicles. Along both sides of this street are the shops where they make the famous Macau jerky and almond cookie souvenirs. If you got any candy from me when I was home, it came from this street.

Ciao (and chow)